3 comments:

Revenge of the nerds. Seriously though, be careful who you believe are, and want as, your brand advocates. If your Abercrombie, sure you want Brad Dexter rocking your cargo pants. But you better not piss off William Lichter because while Mike's got his clones (like McAdams has got her plastics), you can be sure that he's not creating a hate site or videogame. William on the other hand has the skills (and time) to plot your companies demise. And yeah, those things are addicting and really spread the hate (even more than Chapelle's Playahaters). I've been totally chivaned (dissed) by Circuit City's warranty and nonexistent tech center only 3 months after purchasing my TV. I'd love to document the process online, but luckily for them this post is the extent and reach of my rant. I may have people over to watch TV and retell the story, thus passing on the negative experience, but while Pointdexter isn't entertaining (accept with that keyboard), he can program some crazy stuff and thus influence a massive online audience. So what about direct vs. indirect recommendations/ experiences? And for brands that outsource customer service - should you be keeping your potential enemies closer???

Seth, get at planetfeedback.com, epinions.com, thesquekywheel.com, my3cents.com, and baddealings.com to post your complaint amongst the thousands of others. most of these web sites stop and the "bitch and moan" stage, but if they were to mobilize like moveon.org and aggregate all the complaints into MASS EMAILS TO THE HEAD OFFICES, then they'd have something. i give them a year or so to figure out the ACTION PHASE of their business models. the viral Diss Games are much more effective in that EVERYBODY WANTS TO PLAY A GAME, and so the complaint stands to spread.

also consider taking a search at http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/ and join in any already engaged class action settlement and GET PAID!

i call this whole movement HACTIVISM...people have always had a complaint...but now they have actionable routes to effect commerce and make change.